Boo to you!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2009

A storm trooper (yes, again) Flash Gordon (I don't actually know who that is but he's pretty stinkin' cute) and a Panda Bear (no she's not a skelaton)

Maya was super happy with this disgusting little plastic cocroach she picked up on someones porch (I think they may have been decorations and not for taking, but I was too busy counting heads to notice, and who can resist a girl who would choose a bug over candy?)

Here's Porter. He promptly counted his candy and anounced "I GOT 76 PIECES" while we were riding the T home.

Bennett was in heaven with all the candy. He held up his bag at one point and said "Candy" while looking at me with a face that said "Mom, are you ok with me having and entire bag of candy?"

Here is the flash showing off his muscles?

And yes Miles had a costume also. He was a peapod but it wasn't too long into the trial run before he looked like this...

...so he didn't have to wear his for trick-or-treating. Casey carried him in the Moby (at least one person asked if Casey was dressed as a pregnant man -ha-ha-ha-ha)

Look at those sweet sleepy lips

And as a bonus, here is a shot of Miles and I after raiding the kids candy bags:)

NOT PHOTOGRAPHED: Yep we forgot to take our camera trick-or-treating so we have no photos of the really fun ward party (where I won the prize for best chili, and it wasn't some silly little prize, it was a $15 gift card for Target! Porter was so excited for me -I love that kid-), or the super cool trick-or-treating on Beacon Hill (where Carly Simon and John Kerry (along with a long list of other celebs) own homes). Beacon hill was so fun. They had the streets closed off and the places was packed. Deffinantly the place to be on Halloween!

We hope you all had a great Halloween!

Guess who set off the fire alarm at church today?

Yep, it was Bennett. Look at that cute little innocent face. Would you ever believe a devil lurks behind that sweet disguise? Right as we were leaving the building he reaches over and pulls the alarm. I was holding him at the time and, although I feel slightly responsible, I refuse to take any of the blame. People calmly left the building and the fire trucks arrived very promptly. I guess we can take solace in the fact that had it been a real fire evacuation procedures are running smoothly!

Pumpkins!!!

Everyone has been posting these wonderful visits to pumpkin patches and I'm completely jealous. I love pumpkins and think pumpkin patches are so great, but we haven't been able to go to one this year but luckily the pumpkin fairy (poppy) left each kid a pumpkin on the doorstep so we finally got around to decorating those last night, and the following is what ensued...

Porter working dillegently on his masterpiece

Look at those faces of concentration 'this is serious business'

Maya contemplating where to place the next stroke

'Seriously, you're letting ME hold a paint brush?'

Maya's Masterpiece

Porters pumpkin

Bennetts beauty

All was well and good until they started painting each other...

I'd love to blame it on the kids but I think Daddy's mostly to blame (he at least should have known better)

But look how happy they are

Porter thought it was so cool, he did not want to wash it off, and I just thought maya looked creepy.

Monkeying Around

When Nana was here visiting with gran they got the kids a huge bag of balloons, and that bag of balloons has provided hours and hours of fun. When air balloons started getting a little boring we decided to try some of the water variety. Strangers looked hesitant as we marched around outside with our camo shorts, Mohawks, and 'that devious glint in our eyes'.
Speaking of 'that devious glint'

Maya is such a great helper with Miles. She loves him to pieces and doesn't even complain too much about being spit up on.

Miles complains enough for the both of them

We don't see near enough of this handsome face, but he's working hard and makes the most of his time home with us.

We went on a nature hike with this awesome guide named Boot. The kids love him and he is excellent. I guess I decided to dress Bennett like Elmer Fud for the special day:)

Here are the hoodlums preparing for the hike

Maya who constantly forgets that the hikes are held on a Nature Sanctuary and constantly has to be reminded not to pick things and that "No we cant keep the cricket as a pet". On both of the hikes we have gone on with Boot he has told her "I love a girl who isn't afraid to touch BUGS"

Look at that chunky monkey

And the crowning achievement of our week...Bennett decided to paint his eye closed with rubber cement. I was looking up a red box location on the computer (a very quick thing to do) when Porter came running in saying "Uh oh mom, something bad (they always preface their stories with either "something bad" or "do you think it's something bad or good?") Bennett got the bottle with the cow on it and now his eye is stuck closed and he's holding a tissue on it". I ran out to check (because Porter was panicked and I had no clue what bottle had a cow on it) and sure enough Bennett had the rubber cement which is kept 'out of reach' (he used a chair to climb up and get it) and was holding a baby wipe over his eye trying to wipe it off. Obviously the baby wipe idea was flawed and I had to intervene. I rubbed and rubbed and picked and pulled until we finally got his eye opened. The the kids started telling me I was being mean because he was SCREAMING and his eye was opened so I think they thought I should leave the rest of the little gummy boogers on his face. So I did. It took two whole days for them to be all the way gone.

A visit from the Elmer's

My mom and grandma came to visit us last week but unfortunately my camera was in the shop so for pictures of that visit you'll have to go to my mom's blog (http://grampyandnana.blogspot.com/). We went to the aquarium and spent some time in Boston, mom and gran took a trip up the coast, we played at the super cool parks around here, and we really had a great time together. Then to ease the pain of them leaving the Elmer's came to visit!It was so nice to have them here for Miles blessing. It was a beautiful blessing for a beautiful baby on a beautiful day (the only thing that could have made it better was to have Grampy Porter here, but being a stake president is grueling)!

That baby is more than a hand full. He's pretty big for a two month old!
Blessing Miles wasn't all we did this weekend. We also...

...had delicious caramel apples

some kids like to savor their apples by mostly just licking them

While other kids just bite right in

but, Daddy may have enjoyed his most of all!

Then we all dressed like cranberry's and headed off for the 6th annual cranberry festival!

These were some of the crates they had displayed in a big barn

And here is some of the juice they also displayed

Here are the cranberries rocking out in the music section

There was an owl show that was awesome

although we all enjoyed it Maya might have liked it the best. She was on the edge of her seat (and Porter was on the edge of Grammys lap) the whole time.

Here is a peek at miles who spent the day sleeping in the Moby (I'd just like to say Moby's were made for urban livin'. It's just too bad I don't have a red one)

I sure wish we brought our waders so we could have waded out into those beautiful berries

I think Porter is pretending to eat a cranberry and Maya is pretending to be one.

Don't you just want to dive into that truck and take a swim?

Pretty amazing!

There was this massive sand pile that the kids played on forever. It was great fun.

Little miss sandy bum didn't mind getting a little dirty

Or a lot dirty for that matter

Our handsome Daddy supervised the whole sand pile (although secretly he was dying to run up that glorious mountain of sand)

Here is Porter sliding down the slope

Another peek at Miles

This is how Bennett spent most of his day. He and Poppy were inseparable on this trip. What will I do now that they are gone and I have no one to entertain the terrorist?

We didn't spend the whole vacation at the cranberry festival (we could have but we didn't). We also had some unforgettable trips to the children museum, Plymouth plantation (where we saw the mayflower and Plymouth rock, and a really cool Pilgrim and Indian village), Sam's club (that's a whole 'nother story), and a bit of exploring Cambridge.

It was a fun visit and we're sad it's over. We're always up for company (Who's next?)